Why it works: Allspice and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,536 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Spice Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the batter
In a large bowl, cream together the lard or butter and brown sugar.
Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
Stir in the sour milk.
In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, allspice, and cinnamon.
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, stirring until just combined.
Pour the batter into a greased cake pan.
Bake
Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
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Allspice + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,536 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,341 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,655 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
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Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Lard or butter
- Adds fat that tenderizes the crumb and carries flavor.
- Brown sugar
- Adds sweetness and moisture, and helps the cake brown and stay soft.
- Eggs
- Add structure and richness, binding the batter as the cake sets.
- Flour
- Forms the structure that holds the cake's crumb as it bakes.
- Sour milk
- Adds moisture and acidity that reacts with the baking soda to lift the batter.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic sour milk to produce gas that makes the cake rise.
The step that matters
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, stirring until just combined.. Stirring only until combined keeps gluten development limited, so the cake stays tender instead of tough and dense.
Swap the allspice
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, egg, flour, milk, cinnamon):
- Nutmegfits better
- Cardamomfits better
- Allspicethe original
- Clovefits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, egg, flour, milk, cinnamon. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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